The instant application should be granted the priority dates of Jan. 20, 2007, the filing date of the corresponding German patent application DE 10 2007 003 020.9, as well as Jan. 9, 2008, the filing date of the International patent application PCT/EP2008/000110.
The present invention relates to a method of controlling the removal or conveyance of the debris, extracted by mining or working machines in underground mining operations at various locations of the mine structure, via conveying means and bin or bunker units disposed in the mine structure to the mine shaft, which is equipped with a conveying device, or to a raw coal transfer location at the surface, for example to a raw coal deposit.
In conformity with the conventional manner of proceeding, and thus forming the state of the art, the design, as well as the operational control, of the conveying means and bunker units that are connected at an output side of the individual working machines that are utilized at various sites of the mine structure, are effected in a projected manner according to the performance characteristics of the pertaining operating means and the theoretical yield of the debris respectively extracted by the working machines. In underground coal mining operations, to which reference is subsequently made by way of example, such working machines are mining machines placed in longwalls, or cutting or driving machines placed in roadway drivages. In this connection, the storage units, which are disposed between individual conveying means, especially chain conveyors or belt units, based on their buffer capacity are to provide an evening out of the delivery rates, and to compensate for brief conveying spikes.
Under today's operating conditions, the preceding limitations cannot satisfy the requirement for a maximum utilization of the fixed conveying capacity of a mine shaft, since the dynamic nature of every mine, with a change in location of the working and cutting operations, a constant change in length of the conveying means, as well as a discontinuous provision of raw material products, namely coal, with regard to the quantity as well as the quality, requires a constant adaptation of the interaction of the various operating means of a conveying chain to the changing operating conditions. Thus, for example, generally brief, technically readily possible increases of the extraction capacity of working machines cannot be realized unless simultaneously the smooth-running removal of the debris to the mine shaft is ensured. In this connection, one must realize that the conveyance stream coming from one mining operation is combined with conveyance streams from other mining operations, so that depending upon the debris yield in the mining operations, these conveyance streams can affect one another, with appropriate restrictions.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a method of the aforementioned type by means of which it is possible to realize a maximum and as constant as possible of a product provision at the mine shaft conveying means of a mining operation.